


Be My Baby - alternative version of Unexpected

by MrsTennant80



Category: Broadchurch
Genre: Angst, F/M, Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-07
Updated: 2019-01-06
Packaged: 2019-01-07 22:17:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12241689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrsTennant80/pseuds/MrsTennant80
Summary: An alternate version of my story 'Unexpected.' Picks up after the events of chapter 6. You do not need to have read Unexpected, but it will help!





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! So I know I'm mental doing two fics at once but I needed to get this down becuase it was taking up room in my brain! This is an alternate version of my other fic, Unexpected. It's picks up where chapter 6 left off. As soon as Leo was caught, she skipped town. Everything else up to before that is the same.
> 
> If you haven't read Unexpected - please do! But to sum up: Alec and Ellie slept together, the following day, Ellie was raped by Leo Humpheries but her statement led to his arrest. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy! Please comment! :)

‘Have you heard? Ellie Miller’s back!’

‘Really? I thought she’d gone for good.’ 

Alec turned his head as two gossiping DCs walked past him. The name caused a pang in his heart. Ellie. It had been 6 months and 11 days since he'd last seen her. Since she’d left Broadchurch for good. It had taken him a long time to accept she wasn't coming back. After what had happened to her, to make her leave, he was surprised she'd ever come back. The last he’d heard from an old detective buddy of his, she'd taken her boys and fled north, to Scotland of all places. 

He shook it off. It was only idle gossip. It might not even be true and he had work to do. However, that didn't stop his thoughts straying to a dark curly haired woman every 5 minutes or so. 

Eventually, he finished his paperwork and prepared to head home to Daisy. It was a short walk from the station to their little house on the cliff and it was a pleasant evening so he took the long way round and strolled along the front. 

When he arrived home some 20 minutes later, he found Daisy curled up on the sofa doing homework. She looked up as he entered.

‘Hi Dad. You have a good day?’

‘Yeah, not bad.’ He tossed his keys on the side. ‘Heard a rumour today though.’

Daisy brightened. ‘Ooh small town gossip? Come on then, spill. What's the rumour? Is Mr Johnson at the Chemists flirting with Ethel from the church? Or is it….that the harbour master caught a boat going more than 5mph through the harbour?’ 

‘Ha ha’ Alec said flatly, picking up on his daughter’s sarcasm. ‘I know it's a small town but some interesting stuff does happen’ he insisted. ‘I'd be out of a job if it didn't.’

‘Yeah, but you've not had a big case since you sent Leo Humphries down.’ Daisy pointed out. ‘That's OK though. I like you being around. So what's the rumour?’ She folded her arms and blinked at him expectantly in a manner that was so becoming of Tess, it was scary.

‘Miller is back.’

Daisy frowned and then screwed her face up, trying to remember. ‘Miller…Millah’ she aped his accent. ‘Used to work with you? Hideous orange coat?’ 

‘That's the one.’ Alec replied. ‘And if rumours are to be believed, she's back in town.’

‘Why did she leave?’ Daisy asked. 

Alec hesitated. It had never been made public that Ellie had been Leo Humphries’ final rape victim. That she'd packed up and left town about a week after Leo was arrested. ‘Errm…change of scenery, fresh start I think. Anyway. Dinner?’ 

He congratulated himself on his deft change of subject, while Daisy ordered them a pizza from an app on her phone. 

*********************************  
After they'd eaten, Daisy announced she was going to the pub with some friends from school. After promising not to be too late, she was gone and Alec was alone. Sighing, he started on the dishes when he was startled by a knock on the door.

He went to open it, and his jaw fell open with shock for standing on the other side, was Ellie Miller. 

‘Ellie?’ He breathed. His eyes travelled down from her shorter haircut, to the obvious bulge in her stomach. ‘You're….’

‘Yep! I’m pregnant!’


	2. Chapter 2

Alec continued to gape at her.

‘Erm, can I come in? It's chilly out here.’ Ellie said. 

Alec shook himself. ‘Of course.’ He stepped aside and let Ellie into the house.

‘Wanna sit down?’ He suggested and gestured towards the sofa. 

Ellie cradled her bump. ‘Yes, I can't stand for a long time these days.’ She sat on the sofa carefully and rested her hands on her stomach. Alec leaned against the sideboard facing her with his arms folded. 

‘What's all this then Miller?’ He started ‘almost 6 and a half months and I hear nothing from you. You left without even saying goodbye! 5 years of working together and all I get is a note? Now you turn up on my doorstep pregnant!’ He ranted.

‘I owe you an explanation’ Ellie said calmly.

‘Damn right you do!’ Alec continued. ‘Where is he anyway?’ 

Ellie frowned. ‘Where’s who?’

‘Your boyfriend, or partner or whoever….the father of your child!’

Ellie looked downcast for a moment. Alec noticed this and seized on it. ‘Oh don't tell me, he's left you. Hurts doesn't it?’ 

Ellie looked like she was going to cry and Alec softened immediately. He was always a sucker for those watery brown eyes and trembly bottom lip. ‘He's not left me.’ She sniffed. ‘I don't know who he is.’

‘Ach, Miller, you're not the type to sleep around like that. What were you thinking?’ Alec asked incredulously. 

Ellie just started at him pointedly and realisation dawned on Alec. ‘Wait a minute….how far along are you?’ 

She looked at him with sad eyes. ‘26 weeks. 6 and a half months.’ 

Alec blanched. Ellie could practically see the colour drain from his face. ‘I think you'd better sit down.’ She said. 

He slumped into the armchair next to her, then leant forward and put his head in his hands, while Ellie looked on. Eventually he raised his head to look at her. 

He licked his lips and forced himself to speak. ‘Is it….is it my baby?’

Ellie rubbed her stomach gently and looked down at her bump with a small smile, before returning her gaze to Alec. 

‘That's kind of the thing’ she bit her lip. ‘I don't know.’ 

‘Shit, Leo didn't use a condom.’ He ruffled his hair anxiously ‘and neither did we.’

‘I know that!’ Ellie exclaimed. 

‘Bollocks Ellie!’ Alec rounded on her. ‘Why didn't you tell me!?’

‘What for!?’ Ellie replied angrily. ‘You'd only have made me stay in Broadchurch, then what happens if the baby is Leo’s? You don't want anything to do with me, Leo’s family find out. I have to have live with this Alec, this is MY LIFE!’ She yelled, then winced and rubbed her stomach.

‘Are you OK?’ Alec started towards her.

‘I’m fine, don't fuss’ she reassured him. ‘He’s just kicking.’

‘He?’ Alec breathed ‘its a boy?’ 

‘Yeah’ Ellie smiled. ‘It seems it's my lot in life to be surrounded by males.’ 

Their eyes met and they both smiled, then Alec dropped his smile, his hazel eyes crinkling in concern. ‘Where have you been Ellie? Why didn't you contact me?’

Ellie sighed deeply. ‘I guess I owe you an explanation…’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short, but hope you like!
> 
> NEXT TIME: find out what happened to Ellie!
> 
> As always, please comment!! :)


	3. Chapter 3

6 Months, 9 days earlier.

Ellie blinked awake and looked at her unfamiliar surroundings. For a moment she wondered where she was, until memory and recognition kicked in. She looked across the Travelodge room to her two boys sleeping peacefully and sighed deeply.

The previous day, two days after Leo Humphries had been arrested for her rape, she’d left Broadchurch for good. She’d decided she could no longer stay in the town where she’d been through so much, so she’d resigned from her job, listed her house to rent and taken her boys out of school. She’d replied to Tom’s questions of where they were going with just ‘away’, bundled them and most of their possessions into the back of her VW and driven North. 

The further away from Broadchurch she got, the more she felt the tension leave her body bit by bit. After 4 or 5 hours however, she began to tire so she’d pulled off the M6 at Stoke and headed for the nearest Travelodge. 

‘Mum?’ A sleepy voice came from across the room, as Tom popped his head up. ‘Where are we?’

‘Stoke’ Ellie replied. ‘It’s in the midlands.’ 

‘Are we staying here?’ Tom asked. 

Ellie got out of bed, walked to the window and threw the curtains open. The typical post-industrial cityscape under grey clouds greeted her and she had a sudden longing for the sea. 

‘No’. She replied. She felt a pang in her chest as she suddenly thought of a lanky bearded Scotsman. He was the one thing she was going to really miss about Broadchurch. She wished she’d had the courage to stay and see if they could make a go of it. 

She turned back to the room to face Tom. ‘We’re going to Scotland.’ She announced. 

*************************************************

They arrived in Edinburgh late in the afternoon, the rain was coming down in sheets. They spent a few days in a Premier Inn before Ellie found them a small flat in Leith, overlooking the sea. She enrolled the boys in school and got a job as a nursery nurse. 

They settled into a routine of school and work, walks along the seafront and exploring their new city. They did ghost tours, Harry Potter tours and got lost down the winding streets and passages of the old town. 

It was when they’d been there about 4 weeks, that Ellie started getting sick. She’d randomly vomited for a few days in a row, but put it down to stress of the move. It was when she had a dizzy spell at work that she decided to make a doctors appointment. When she was flicking through her diary to make an appointment, she realised she had missed her period. 3 pregnancy tests later and she had her answer. She was pregnant with either Alec’s or Leo’s baby. 

She spent a tense week up and down, wondering what to do. Neither of her boys seemed to notice anything was wrong. She had no friends or support network in Edinburgh, but then again, she surmised grimly, neither did she in Broadchurch. Apart from Alec. Her sister and nephew had moved away not long after Joe’s trial. She decided she couldn’t tell Alec. She wouldn’t allow herself to be drawn back to Broadchurch and she couldn’t disappoint him if the baby turned out to be Leo’s. 

She decided to keep the baby, after she’d been in a department store one evening. She was in a queue and the lady in front was holding a restless baby. Ellie cooed to the baby to help calm her and the mother asked if she had kids. ‘Two boys. And one on the way.’ Ellie had replied without thinking. She realised there and then that if she was telling complete strangers she was pregnant, she’d already decided to keep the baby.

Fred was a bit too young to understand, but when she told Tom the news he was understandably shocked. He knew she’d been attacked so when Tom asked who the father was, Ellie intimated it was a result of her attack, preferring not to complicate things in the young lads mind by mentioning Alec. Tom accepted that, and in a show of maturity, started helping his Mum with the housework. He even accompanied her to her 12 week scan, and proclaimed that his half brother or sister looked ‘cool. Like an alien.’ 

As Ellie’s pregnancy progressed, and her belly grew larger, so did her doubts and fears about the baby. This was exacerbated when she found out she was having a boy. She was worried that the baby would be Leo’s and turn out like him. 

She started researching DNA testing and discovered she could get a DNA sample from the baby during an amniocentesis. She had been advised by her doctors to have this procedure anyway, due to her age. (She swore she’d punch the next doctor who called her a geriatric mother). 

It was when she was absentmindedly watching TV one night, rubbing her swollen stomach, that a documentary about heart conditions came on. She watched with increasing tension as she learned a lot of them were hereditary. She worried that her baby was Alec’s and thus had a chance of developing his arrhythmia. 

She decided once and for all she needed to find out who her baby belonged to. That meant going back to Alec.

It meant going back to Broadchurch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PLEASE COMMENT!!!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember this fic? Well i wrote an UPDATE! I thought it was time after 14 months...... sorree

CHAPTER 4

As Ellie finished speaking, Alec let out a huge sigh and leaned back against the sofa. ‘That’s quite a story Miller.’ 

Ellie just nodded and wiped her eyes. Alec stood up, walked over to his tiny kitchen, and fetched a few sheets of kitchen roll, passed them to Ellie and sat back down next to her as she dabbed her eyes. 

‘You should have told me.’ He admonished gently. 

‘Yeah?’ Ellie sniffed. ‘And if I’d stayed and the baby was Leo’s, then what would you have done?’

‘I don’t know’ Alec admitted quietly.

‘See? I’d have been on my own raising a rapists baby, always being reminded of everything I’d lost, including you.’ She said angrily. 

‘Hang on a wee sec Miller’ Alec said harshly ‘I would have supported you whatever happened. I care about you.’

‘You just said you don’t know what you would have done!’ She retorted. 

‘You never gave me the chance! Christ Ellie! 2 days after we arrested Leo, you were gone. You never spoke to me. How am I supposed to react to that!?’ He said angrily. 

‘I’m sorry.’ She said quietly. ‘I didn’t know what else to do. I needed to get away from everywhere and everyone that reminded me of what happened.’ 

Alec softened his posture and rubbed his face wearily. ‘I guess I can understand that. I left Sandbrook and I had a daughter there.’ He turned to face her. ‘Are you happy there?’

‘In Scotland? Aye!’ She replied in a terrible Scottish accent. She smiled and Alec returned her smile.

‘That was bloody awful Miller!’ 

‘I thought it was OK, for a sassenach.’ She smiled then sobered. ‘To answer your question though, yes, I guess I am. I mean, I’m alone apart from my boys and the women I speak to at my NCT class and at work, but the boys love it. Tom has joined the scouts, he’s away this weekend with them and Fred has made loads of friends at school and is stopping with one of the boys in his class this weekend. We live by the sea, we walk the beach at Leith and explore the city on Sundays. It’s lovely.’

‘Sounds nice’ Alec said, his brown eyes crinkling. ‘I miss Scotland sometimes. I only stay in Broadchurch for Daisy and she’s away to university in September.’

‘What will you do then?’ Ellie asked softly. 

‘I don’t know, I mean, I cannae just keep following Daisy around. She’s a young woman and she needs tae live her own life.’ He turned to look at Ellie. ‘What about you?’ 

‘Me? I think Edinburgh is home for now, at least until this one comes along.’ She replied as she rubbed her stomach affectionately.

Alec followed the motion of her hand with his eyes, before flicking them up to meet Ellie’s. ‘And if he’s mine?’ He questioned. ‘Am I to be kept away from another child?’

‘Of course not! You can vi-‘

‘Visit. Great!’ Alec said sarcastically. ‘It’s only an 8 hour drive each way. Sure I can manage that.’ 

‘Hardy, can’t we just take this one step at a time?’ Ellie pleaded. ‘Just take the test and we can talk it over when the results come back.’ She fished in her handbag, removed a swab kit and handed it to him. ‘I’m staying at The Traders’ she informed him as she stood up. ‘I leave tomorrow at noon.’

As she walked past him, she paused. ‘I really am sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. It was a very difficult time for me.’ 

Alec just simply nodded. ‘I know’ He said, his voice choked. ‘I wanted to help you through it. You didn’t have to be alone.’

‘I am alone.’ She replied, and just like that, she was gone again.

**Author's Note:**

> Ooh a note I forgot! Maybe rule breaking but in this universe the baby is different so,still could be Alec or Leo's! Also this will be a multi-chapter story. If anyone wants another chapter that is....


End file.
